CO-HOST | Make Money by Ignoring Haters and Building a Loyal Audience

Summary

Podcast Summary: Travis Makes Money — "Make Money by Ignoring Haters and Building a Loyal Audience"
Episode Date: June 25, 2026 | Host: Travis Chappell | Co-host: Producer Eric

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses on the realities of building an online brand, making money as a creator, and the necessity of developing a thick skin when dealing with haters, criticism, and negative commenters. Host Travis Chappell and producer/co-host Eric dive into how creators can navigate online negativity while building a loyal and engaged audience, including strategies for engagement, the benefits (and pitfalls) of comment sections, and a sharp look at the modern phenomenon of "demand" activism. The conversation mixes humor, pop culture, and actionable advice for aspiring creators.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dealing with Internet Haters and Negative Comments

Timestamps: 02:43–13:50

• Eric shares an anecdote about posting a popular take on "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and being accused of plagiarism by die-hard "Big Bang Theory" fans. Despite receiving overwhelmingly negative comments, Eric notes the high engagement such controversy brings:
  • “We’re winning. I’m getting so much engagement.” (04:57 – Eric)
• The hosts discuss how even the silliest or most harmless takes can trigger intense criticism online—sometimes even more than posts about serious political or social issues.
• Key advice: If you're in the building stage of a creative business, you can't afford to ignore your comments completely.
  • “If you’re trying to make a career as a creator... you’re supposed to do on social is engage with comments. It’s supposed to be social media, not just media.” (13:07 – Travis)
• As your following grows, you also develop more loyal supporters who defend you in the comments, often fighting your battles for you.

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2. Choosing Who to Listen To—and Who to Ignore

Timestamps: 12:22–16:10

• Travis explains a framework for “disregard”:
  • “My rule of thumb anymore is basically, like, if they're completely cold to me, then I can basically disregard any sort of negativity or criticism that they're throwing at [me].” (13:52 – Travis)
• The importance of discernment: While there may be a kernel of truth in some criticism, it’s simply not worth "weeding through all the stupid."
• Examples of topics that draw the most vitriol:
  • Weight loss and fitness advice ("walk more and eat less calories").
  • Criticism directed at female guests or DEI topics (diversity/equity/inclusion).

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3. Navigating “Demand” Activism and Unreasonable Audience Expectations

Timestamps: 24:37–29:34

• Discussion about audience members who demand creators post about every social or political issue, then attack them for not complying.
  • Reference to Adam Grant's post: “Adam Grant assigned a name to that type of activism, lactivism or something, where your entire method of activism is just demanding that people with big audiences post about it, and then you do zero things about it.” (27:43 – Travis)
• Focus on why a creator’s platform is usually dedicated to a particular message or niche.
• Importance of not feeling obligated to speak out on topics outside your expertise: “A good reason to not post about something is not being well-informed enough about that topic to post something that... has any form of intelligent conversation baked into it.” (28:43 – Travis)

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4. Advice for New and Growing Creators

Timestamps: 29:47–30:43

• In the early stages, engage as much as possible: “If you’re starting to post on social, you do need to pay attention to the comments when you’re first getting started, because that’s what’s going to help inform what the rest of your content is.” (29:47 – Travis)
• Example: YouTuber Graham Stephan responded to every comment until he had one million subscribers.
• Once more established, you can afford to be more selective and detach from negativity.
• Big theme: Build a loyal audience by showing up consistently, focusing on your core message, and letting your community “fight your battles” as it grows.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On engaging with haters: “Of the 213 comments, 90% of them are bad... But the point is that I’m winning.” (05:04 – Eric)
• On ignoring cold commenters: “If they’re completely cold to me, then I can basically disregard any sort of negativity or criticism that they’re throwing at [me]...” (13:52 – Travis)
• On criticisms of DEI and women guests: “[Women guests] are objectively a badass who threatens your teeny tiny ego.” (16:00 – Travis)
• On audience activism: “Your entire method of activism is just demanding that people with big audiences post about it, and then you do zero things about it.” (27:43 – Travis)
• On niche and expertise: “It’s like going to your neurosurgeon, being like, ‘Why don’t you care about my heart?’” (29:00 – Eric)

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Pop Culture & Humor Highlights

• The “Big Bang Theory” fandom’s outrage at unoriginal takes (04:20–06:30).
• Extended Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Mandalorian, and The Office analogies to illustrate audience reactions, internet groupthink, and character development in long-running projects.
• Eric’s prop comedy introduction (“I'm trying to be the carrot top of podcasts!”) sets a light, self-aware tone for the conversation (01:43).

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Actionable Takeaways

• Respond and engage early: Read and reply to comments when you’re small to build relationships and inform your future content.
• Develop thick skin: Don’t take random, negative criticism from strangers personally—most commenters aren’t your audience.
• Let your community grow: As your audience builds, your loyal followers will help “defend” you and reinforce your message.
• Stay on mission: Focus on your niche, and don’t let external demands distract you from your area of knowledge or undermine your work.

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For listeners looking to grow as creators or simply understand the behind-the-scenes of building a personal brand online, Travis and Eric offer both humor and hard-earned wisdom, making this episode an engaging and memorable guide to overcoming online negativity and cultivating a supportive, loyal audience.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

I don't know, man. Today. Today stinks.

[A]

It was spicy. Yeah, I was spicy hot.

[B]

In the comments today, would you say today stinks? I would say today stinks.

[A]

Feel like you're leading up to something?

[B]

Yeah. You know what you do when something stinks?

[A]

Yeah. You get Febreze.

[B]

You could do that. Or you could get some deodorant.

[A]

What did you. What's in the bag?

[B]

You could get some squats.

[A]

What's in the box?

[B]

You could get some Squatch deodorant. Available now at a retailer near you.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Why do you have so when the day stinks.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

I just get out my Squatch.

[A]

This is why you asked for a tumbler for your Coca Cola.

[B]

Pour a little bit of that.

[A]

That's wild. You want a little hit of that wood barrel bourbon. That's hilarious. What is this?

[B]

It's Evan Williams bourbon, actually. So, yeah, when life stinks, you just get out the deodorant. I'm trying to be the carrot top of podcasts. But then he started doing a lot of podcasts, so now he's just the carrot top of podcasts.

[A]

That would be great if you just started bringing random props with you to recordings. That's a good one.

[B]

What's the budget? Yeah, I actually.

[A]

Where did you even find that Squatch? They sent it to you with deodorant or something?

[B]

They did a. Okay. There was a Facebook ad and it said, buy two Squatch deodorants, get a free flask.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

And I said, yeah, well, you know,

[A]

those two things often come.

[B]

But this is actually one of the neatest. Like you're kind of jealous.

[A]

Yeah, that's kind of.

[B]

You wish you had one.

[A]

Anyway, I know for me, when I put on deodorant, I'm always like, man, you know what sounds good?

[B]

Drinking bourbon. Drinking alcohol. What's great though is that if you do a high enough potency alcohol and for those that are listening, which you are, this is a replica. I have a replica of a deodorant from Dr. Squatch.

[A]

But it looks like a deodorant.

[B]

It's. It does really look. You thought it was, huh? Yeah, I did, you goofball. It's a flask. You open it up and it's a flask. But what's great though is it may not work as deodorant, but if you use a strong enough alcohol, you can use it as aftershave. Which is a great bit there. Which is a great joke I did there. Anyway, yeah, well, I said today stinks. But it really has because I said on a recent podcast and we posted a clip, I was gonna do a joke where I cry, but I don't wanna do it. I don't have the emotional with. And I already cried all morning. But I posted, frankly, I'm out of tears. I posted a very well worn theory about Raiders of the Lost Ark, where if Indiana Jones wasn't in the movie, the main beats of the plot would just stay the same. Which is true.

[A]

That's the one with Sean Connery. Right?

[B]

Okay. Which is true. In Rare's Lost Ark, if you take away Indiana Jones, the Nazis do find out that where Marion is. They get the amulet, they find the ark, they open the ark, the Nazis die. So that's all the same. That's true. I stand on that. I don't remember where I heard that first. It's all over all the time. I see that post. No, hold on. I see that literally all the time. And then, and then I have so many people in the comments of that post, you plagiarize. They're like, hey, that's from the Big Bang Theory. That's from the Big Bang Theory season seven, episode four.

[A]

A new take, huh?

[B]

But anyway, I'm like, yeah, so I was upset about that.

[A]

Leave it for the Big Bang writers.

[B]

I stopped watching Big Bang Theory after like season three, first of all. But no. So all these people were upset and I was like, first of all, I don't think this is an original take. Second of all, I think I heard this on a social media clip like the one I posted.

[A]

It's just a wild thing to be upset about something like that.

[B]

People are mad. But yeah, I was like, it's the same thing as every. Everybody talking about, like, hey, did you know, actually in Jaws, the shark was not supposed to be missing for most of the movie, but the shark wasn't working, so Spielberg had to get really creative. Yeah, that's a really cool story, and it's not an original story.

[A]

Yeah. For those that are listening, this post right now has 213 comments and 130,000 views, which.

[B]

Can we. Can we just take a second really quick? But we're winning. I'm getting so much engagement.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[B]

On that post.

[A]

The point is that I'm winning. Of the 213 comments, 90% of them are bad.

[B]

212 are disgruntled big Bang Theory fans

[A]

literally being like, come on, bro, come up with a different take.

[C]

This is.

[A]

The people have said this already. It's like, I don't. I don't understand why that means that you aren't allowed to say something.

[B]

Did you know that originally.

[A]

Not even taking credit for it either.

[B]

Did you know that originally Luke Skywalker's name was going to be Luke Starkiller?

[A]

Is that true?

[B]

That is true.

[D]

No, I know that.

[B]

Oh, sorry. I should cite my source on that. That's a really old story. Did you know that originally was called Revenge of the Jedi and not Return of the Jedi?

[E]

Oh, my God.

[A]

Why don't you have a new take, guy?

[B]

Big Bang Theory, Season eight, Episode four if you watched every season of Big Bang Theory, cross the street when you see me coming.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Wait, why?

[B]

Because I don't want to see you. You probably smell stinky. Yeah, because you like stinky shows and you're.

[A]

And you're stinking up our comment section.

[B]

Bazinga. Buzzing. The worst millennial, you know, the worst millennial, you know, owns a Bazinga T shirt. Like, there's a 50 50. When you see a millennial in an Office T shirt that they either have a funny personality or their personality is they think they're funny because they watch the Office.

[A]

Exactly.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

If you see someone in a Bazinga T shirt, you're going to meet the most unfunny person you've ever met in your entire life.

[A]

Bazinga.

[B]

Bazinga. Bazinga.

[A]

I liked the show for a while, though.

[B]

Bazinga.

[A]

It did. I don't know when it got old,

[B]

but I think it got. I think. I don't know. I'd have to go back and I'm not going to. I'd have to go back and rewatch the first season, but I feel like a lot of times those shows become more formulaic and they become more caricatures of themselves as time goes. It's kind of like. It's kind of like in the Office. Sorry. By the way, this is not a brand new take. It's like how Kevin in the first season, the Office is a competent employee. He's like a competent employee that's, like, also a little airheaded and lunky.

[A]

You know, I don't even know if he's airheaded. Whatever. He's, like, doing sports betting and talking about.

[B]

He's not. Like, he's never going to be the manager of the office. Right, Right. Like, he's not a high achiever.

[A]

But by the end.

[B]

But by the end, he's like, me get cookie. And like, he needs help buckling into the car. And like. But like, I feel like some shows, the whole show becomes where it's like in Big Bang Theory. It's like, oh, I'm the guy that's kind of pervy. But then by the end, it's like, oh, Howard is so bizarre. Whatever. I haven't even watched far enough. I don't know what happens with Howard, but it just becomes where you're like, these don't feel like characters. They feel like caricatures. Maybe that's original. I don't know. Who knows?

[A]

I do know what you mean.

[B]

Anyway, so I figured I would use that as a launch pad into a larger conversation. And what's funny is I wasn't even going to talk about Raiders of the Lost Ark because we posted about the Mandalorian the other day. And I said. I think I said it's the first Star wars movie in a long time I liked.

[A]

And then the first said I liked the Mandalorian movie.

[B]

And then the first comment is, these guys are glazers. And I was like, first of all, you never see me glaze, because when I do glaze, I glaze hard.

[A]

Laying it on thick.

[B]

But it just. I'm always astounded with. It's most evident with really silly, stupid stuff, how angry people get. But then there's been times you and I have ventured into not silly stuff, and people go even harder sometimes not as hard, actually. Sometimes people go harder for Raiders of the Lost Ark than they do for politics and anything that actually has consequence.

[A]

Probably because they know more about Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[B]

I'm really indifferent to your take on this article that I definitely didn't read. But Star Wars Episode 6. Yeah, I used to know. Did you used to know all the names of like all the bounty hunters in like episode? I feel like I used to know all the background characters.

[A]

I geeked out more on the prequels than I did on the original trilogy. It was very millennial.

[C]

I see you.

[E]

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[C]

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[E]

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[B]

It will be an adventure for the

[E]

whole family and watch the Oscar winning phenomenon at home.

[A]

This is sick.

[E]

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[C]

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[A]

But I feel, I feel like if I'm gonna just. If you're just gonna throw on a Star wars movie, which one are you putting on?

[B]

6.

[A]

Really?

[B]

For the Jedi.

[E]

Really?

[C]

Oh, really?

[A]

I was curious. I feel like I would probably put on three.

[B]

You know what though? What? Technically, six is three.

[A]

You have Revenge of the situation.

[B]

Oh, is that an original thought? Everything I'm saying, I can hear a little voicemail, like, oh, yeah, it was always supposed to be. First of all, George Lucas didn't know it was going to be six movies. No, George Lucas did not know because people are like, he always envisioned a six film. No, he didn't.

[A]

You know what I saw the other day was like his plans for episodes seven through nine. And I don't, I don't know if they're true.

[D]

I don't.

[A]

I could. Like, it was on just a random star.

[B]

Well, you just get bamboozled by some fake post. Fake fan.

[A]

Yeah, maybe it was. Maybe it was. I don't know. But I've seen it several times. And I was like, why wouldn't they let him do this? I don't just bring him on like, but have him consult or something.

[B]

I was gonna, I was gonna say no 6, but I was gonna say, so. Star wars was always defined as the space opera. And I feel like three. The reason I love Revenge of the Sith now And the reason I can forgive some of the Cause all the prequels have the same problem, which is that Hayden Christensen's not the strongest actor in the world. He's balanced out by Ewan McGregor, who is a good actor. And some of the dialogue is pretty clunky, cheesy. Yeah. But if you watch episode three is like, I'm watching a stage production and it's like, supposed to be this bombastic, over the top thing. I think that's the way to watch the movie.

[A]

But also I like the action. Like, he was not a super good actor, but he did work really, really, really hard. Yeah. Like, the choreographing those lightsaber scenes is like the volume of weeks.

[B]

It's kind of like those. It's kind of like the book of Boba Fett. He's not the strongest actor, but. But the action scenes are.

[A]

But it's also terrible. He's not the strongest actor, but.

[B]

But his stunts are also not good. But. Okay, so I wanted to talk a little bit about dealing with all the opinions because you've put out a lot. You put over like 1500 episodes of a podcast out.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Posted a lot of clips. You've had people mad at you, as have you, and people have never been mad at me. People. People get grumpy and angry. How do you choose what voices you listen to? How do you engage with. Jack Carr had a really great thing about not engaging with anybody, but I can't bring myself to that level of purity yet.

[A]

Here's the deal, though. You have to engage at first. It's almost. Not to overuse this term, but it's almost like a privileged position to say, well, just don't look at the comments. Because if you're already at a position where you can afford to not look at the comments, then fine, don't look at the comments. And I would probably encourage that person to do that as well. If you're trying to make a career as a creator or you're trying to get more business for your small business, that's like the thing that you're supposed to do on social is engage with comments. And it's supposed to be social media, not just media.

[B]

It's not.

[A]

You're not supposed to post and then never go on. You're supposed to go engage with people and build community and ask questions and DM people and try to turn that into conversations. You know what I mean? So, like, you can't. If you're in the building stage, you can't just afford to just Never look at comments or ever. Never read comments.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So you have to have some level of. Okay, disregard, disregard, disregard. My rule of thumb anymore is basically like, if they. If they're completely cold to me, then I can basically disregard any sort of, like, negativity or criticism that they're throwing at.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Not to say that it's always false. There might be a, you know, kernel of truth every now and again that some random person throws at me, but to me, it's not worth weeding through all of the stupid. That requires more context.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Where they don't know anything about me, they make a comment. It's like, you know, when we put stuff for figuring it out, whatever. And then a random commenter would be like, maybe read the Bible first. And it's like, okay, well, I'm not

[B]

gonna sit down and this conversation run through my.

[A]

Not gonna go through all of my qualifications with you in this comment section so that you understand that I'm speaking from a place of, you know, at least understanding. But, yeah, there's some people that I'm just like. I mean, most.

[E]

Anybody.

[A]

Most of the time. When it's. When it's any. Anybody who. I just have no idea who they are. I'm just like, all right, well, disregard.

[B]

What's. What's the. If you can. Do you have one thing that pops out where you're like, I've gotten the most, like, aggressive comments on this particular thing.

[A]

I feel like you would know the answer to that more than I would.

[B]

I delete them. So you don't see them.

[A]

No. You post them again.

[B]

I post. I screenshot and say, look at this guy. I was trying to think of the word like. Or the most controversial.

[A]

Sometimes the weight loss stuff. Whenever I say something about, like, walk

[B]

more and eat less calories, and people are like, you stupid, stupid man.

[A]

Yeah. It's most of the time, very seemingly not controversial.

[B]

I wouldn't take fitness advice from this guy. Literally.

[A]

Did.

[B]

I actually. Did actually, all of them. That's why I look the way I do.

[A]

Yeah, you're welcome.

[B]

Imagine being a personal trainer and someone writes you a review. You're like, can you delete that? I don't want people to think I'm responsible for that.

[A]

Can you actually remove that?

[B]

Travis made me look this way. Hire him to consult.

[A]

Yeah, the. Those ones seem to piss people off. The ones with mace. The. The.

[B]

Oh, women.

[A]

Broad amount of hate that she just gets because the people. Oh, dei. Higher or whatever, and it's like, bro. What.

[B]

Anything.

[A]

You think the. The. You Know Air Force fighter pilot instructors are like, we need more women in this program. Like, they're. No, she's objectively a badass who threatens your teeny tiny ego.

[B]

Is it a teeny, tiny ego or is it something else?

[A]

Those two things are correlated.

[D]

Lego Maya.

[B]

Go, sir.

[A]

And then you're gonna comment something stupid about like, oh, well, you know, she's a woman.

[B]

Yeah, okay. Did you. You still gotta fly the plane. Yeah, that's kind of the thing. Did you see Brad Lee? I actually think I put this in my book. Maybe. Did you see Bradley was on some super right wing podcast and then Bradley kind of put this guy in his place about female pilots? No, I was actually like. Cause I watched. I was like, the thing is, I like Bradley, but that's why I try not to watch too much of his stuff. Because then sometimes I watch that. I'm like, I don't know if I like Brad Lee. But then I watched this one, I

[A]

was like, that's what I've always appreciated about Brad, though, is that Brad is definitely the what you see is what you get guy. Yeah, like the guy he is on camera is the same exact dude.

[B]

A handsome hunt shout out, but yeah,

[A]

he doesn't mince words.

[B]

Here's one for you. Now, this was.

[A]

I don't think I saw this.

[B]

This is like a. This guy is like an in real life online troll.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But here we go about female pilots.

[D]

Airplane pilots better than male pilots that can't fly. So again, if. If the only people there could fly the plane was female, I'd take them. But you know that for every female pilot, there was a man that was passed up. So this woman. Women are dei.

[E]

Why?

[A]

I'll tell you that.

[D]

It's the best person for the job. Not male or female. The best pilot should get the job. Male or female, black or white. If they all happen to be white and they all happen to be male, well, then that's who should get the job. I don't care that they're white, and I don't care that they're male. The best person. I'm. I'm about meritocracy. Exactly. And I don't care if it's the female is the best pilot, then, God, I want the female. But that's what I'm saying.

[C]

She's.

[B]

This guy's barber was a dei.

[A]

That's what I'm saying. She's not. That's a wild take.

[B]

This guy's barber was a DEI hire. Apparently it was his mom in the bathroom.

[D]

Not the best pilot. But she's there because of dei. Don't like it. Yeah, but. But that's what it is when you have a female pilot. That's cousin. Necessarily the case, but let's pretend it is. That's not fair. I'm not for it. Well, what do you think? But if that is the truth, hey, she was hired because we had to have another female. That's the stupid government rules that piss me off. How about the best person for the job? Like, if I'm gonna hire someone for this company, I don't care if they're black or transgender or. Or gay or Muslim or. I don't care. I want the best person for the job, and I don't care what color they are. Now, what's that make merit?

[B]

Meritocracy.

[D]

Then that's what I'm. Then that's what the I am. I'm gonna hire that guy.

[E]

Doesn't know.

[B]

He said, I stopped listening when you didn't agree that women exact. When women. When you didn't agree. But I also love where it's like

[A]

to keep doubling down on that and just.

[B]

That's exactly what I'm saying in this extreme hypothetical that I'm creating. Right. This is what I'm saying. Okay. So I'm trying to think if there's any that stand out. Yeah. Any that involve women. Men on the Internet don't like that.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

I feel like it is silly. It's like, oh, your best impression video. Oh, this is the best celebrity impression.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Oh, have you watched any celebrity impressions? Have you done that?

[A]

Actually, if you have to say the name of the impression before you do it, it's not a good one by definition.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, and then what's funny is in that video, I specifically say, I don't know about best, but my favorite one is this.

[B]

You're not allowed to do that.

[A]

And then they go, oh, that's the best one. I said. I didn't say it was the best one. I said it was my favorite one. And then they go, well, you just don't know anything. If it's your. If that's your favorite impression, it's like, what are you talking. This is not a. This is a very subjective thing. Like, what do you. Why are you so upset that I chose this as my favorite impression? Like, what does that say about you?

[B]

The one that I get. And this will go into my. I think my overall takeaway of how I handle this stuff is my one that always gets heat is when I do. I always do this post to trigger conservative Christians. But I did. If you're more upset about female pastors than pastors, or women who are pastors than pastors who rape women, your priorities need to be checked. And then people go like it's a false equivalency. I'm like, no, I'm just saying if you're. If you spend more time getting mad about this.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Than this other thing, that's an issue. And people go crazy in that. But.

[A]

But even that makes more sense to draw that type of response.

[B]

Oh yeah.

[A]

Because it's something that is about things that are meaningful to people.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's all like it. It's the ones where there has no consequences, doesn't matter.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And people are just as upset about that as if you're like talking about the person you voted for or something.

[B]

But I was going to say

[A]

the

[B]

reason I'm bringing that example is I love. Because I think a lot of times I'll talk to creators. I talked to someone recently like, oh, I don't read my comments at all. And I was like, how do you know what you're doing? And then they said it puts me in a mess and I depresses me and I feel like it just shuts me down. I don't want to make anything. And I don't know about you, I always feel the opposite. Where even if when there's people that are mad, it kind of fills me up to go like I'm touching a nerve here. Let me keep talking about it. Let me keep talking about Indiana Jones for the rest of my life. I'm going to keep drilling down.

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but also too like, I love the fact that it's pushing out the people that don't like my message. And it's also. Which is an original thing, by the way, a lot of people talk about it, but it pushed away the people that I know don't resonate. And I think as you create more content and you draw in more people that do resonate, they're gonna fight those battles for you in the comments where they're gonna be like, actually, like, I have people that assume stuff about me all the time. And I'll literally have people that'd be like, actually, Eric did this like 10 years ago that informs what he said. And it's like, okay, boom, perfect. Like, I don't saw it on a

[A]

Scott Galloway post the other day where it was just he, he said a take that would go against a lot of the stuff he normally says and of, of some, you know, there's a bunch of people talking about him and then people in his audience coming to the rescue, essentially being like, well, you just don't know Scott then, because he did this and that. And like, he also does this. Like, you know, why don't you do some research or know who you're talking about before you comment or something? Yeah, it's like, yeah, when you do the work to build the community and get to know people and then show up in a consistent way over a long period of time, you have people that are like, hey, why don't we chill out here?

[B]

And. And he made a good point today when we were talking about. This is like when you're dealing with a nobody rando online with no profile picture, when you go out in public and you see like the most scroungy looking person in the corner that looks like they only leave the store to get more soda, to go back to reading Reddit, it's like, that's who you're arguing with.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

But you have tons of people with profile pictures. It's like when you have guests on your show that are like, people that nobody could get in touch with ever. It's like, you obviously had something going on where that person said yes, so why are you worried about a commenter that has like three followers?

[A]

It's like, right, exactly. And that's always the biggest thing.

[B]

Shaq's take sucked. I actually didn't like what you said to Shaq. Yeah, if I had Shaq in the room, I would have said that. Really?

[A]

Okay, go for it.

[B]

Get Shaq in the room then.

[A]

Yeah, those sucker. Those are the ones that I never know what to do with. Because it's like the whole idea of platforming, and it's like, you should. Oh, it was an Adam Grant post the other day that. I don't know if he saw this one, but he said something about, like, I'm. He had.

[B]

Oh, I didn't post about your cause.

[A]

Yeah, I didn't post about your cause.

[B]

I unfollowed him because of that.

[A]

But a bunch of people in his comment section really upset about that and saying, like, this is not it and this is terrible and whatever.

[B]

What's funny, when I read that, though. I'm sorry to interrupt, but when. Because he did a whole post about. I didn't post about your thing that matters to you because I don't know enough about it or because it's already. We're already divided.

[C]

And.

[B]

And right when I read it, I was like, where this is going to backfire is that everyone assigned their cause to that post.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

And went like, why don't you care about Israel?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Why don't you care about Gaza? Why don't you care about, you know, thirsty people? Yeah.

[A]

Or, you know, kids with cancer or whatever? It's like. But that's kind of the point, though, is exactly. That is like, if you did that, you would only ever post about people's causes that you felt needed to be

[B]

a mile wide and an inch deep.

[A]

It's like you're just going to post about 100,000 different things. Like, it's. It's impossible. It's a. It's a terror. It's a bad app. Ask. And, like, what he said. He was like, I posted this because I've had so many really smart friends of mine who are authors and good thinkers who stopped posting stuff on social. Yeah. Because they were so sick of the vitriol of audience demanding that they post about these other things and then attacking their character. Because on this day where this current event happened.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They didn't post about that. Instead, they posted this thing about psychology research that they're reading, and they're upset that they didn't post about the thing that happened because they should be caring more about that than their, you know, dumb psychology career or whatever right now. And it's like, I just don't have time for that stuff, man.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But I, I liked that from Adam Grant because I. I think that he's dead on with that. Like, and he talks a lot about social connection and human psychology and all those types of things. And it's like, that should be, like, somewhat apolitical. Like, you should be trying to get those messages out to the mass. Just cornering yourself into a certain portion of the Internet just to appease a certain group of people who are demanding from you that you speak up about these things.

[B]

And the thing is, a lot of times, because I had that happen with my show, I had a few people that emailed me when October 7th happened, and they're like, are you going to be posting about this? Which is so outside the range of what I talk about with my very specific platform. And I was just like, I don't really know much. I know that I don't like X, Y and Z. Like, I don't like innocent people dying across the board. But it was this thing where I was like, I'm not gonna post that just because you want me to do it. And because you feel like everybody on the planet has to create this articulate statement about it. But what I was gonna say too, is also those people have stopped caring about that and moved on and moved on to this next cause and this next thing. And it's like.

[A]

And never did anything about it.

[E]

No.

[A]

Aside from, like, that's what Adam Grant assigned a name to that type, that type of activism, lactivism or something, where he's basically just like, your entire method of activism is just demanding that people with big audiences post about it, and then you do zero things about it.

[B]

Awareness without action doesn't do anything.

[A]

Why don't you do something then, if you're so concerned about it? Or why don't you try to build a platform if you're so concerned about it? Just yelling at other people that have taken 20 years of their lives to cultivate this audience of people who care about the things they talk about and then just defaming their character because they. They chose to not post about this thing that you felt that they should have posted about. Just like, you're never going. It's a game that you can never win.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Like you said, everybody has the cause in their mind. That is the most important thing that you should be posting about.

[B]

Well, it's like when I talk about, like, religious abuse in Christian environments, and then people go, like, why don't you talk about Muslims? Like, there's a lot of people that do a lot of really good work about Islamic abuse or Catholic or, you know, it's like.

[A]

But it's one of those things too, where it's like, a good reason to not post about something is not being well informed enough about that topic to post something that is any that has any form of intelligent conversation baked into it.

[B]

I think Lee Remini has Scientology covered.

[A]

Right?

[B]

Yeah, exactly. I think my. I always go back to. And I don't like using the example often because people go like, oh, you're not the same as a doctor, but it's like going to your neurosurgeon, be like, why don't you care about my heart? Why don't you work on my feet? You know, it's like they do this one thing. That's what they talk about. But.

[A]

And if I did post something, it would be uninformed. I'm not going to take 25 hours to get informed about a topic just so I can post about it just to appease the three people who want me. You know what I mean? It's just like, this is a useless endeavor and a massive waste of time.

[B]

Hey, you know what else is a useless endeavor and a massive waste of time?

[E]

What?

[B]

This conversation. I was trying. Not really. Actually, I enjoyed it. But I do need a transitional close. And that was a mean way to do it. I'm sorry. Hey, I'm sorry.

[A]

All that to say, if you're starting to post on social, you do need to pay attention to the comments when you're first getting started, because that's what's going to help inform what the rest of your content is. And we had one when we had Graham Stephan on the show recently, who's got 5 billion views across social and. Or on YouTube alone.

[B]

What does he know?

[A]

And then, and then, I don't know, 7, 8 million subscribers between all of his channels. He was. He replied to every single comment until his channel reached a million subscribers.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Now he doesn't do it anymore, of

[B]

course, but because he's like, at the

[A]

beginning, you got to do what doesn't scale in order to be able to scale. So you got to pay attention to the comments. Just try to mitigate the harm that the stupid comments might potentially do to you and try to focus more on the. On the positive ones. But that's it for this episode of the show. Remember, money only solves your money problems. But it's easier to solve the rest of your problems when you got some money in the bank. So let's start there. Here on Travis Makes Money podcast. Catch you next time. Peace.

[C]

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